Granular material loader for a pneumatic conveyor



D. A. RIESER A ril 22, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 5, 1957 Apnl 22, 1958 D. A. RIESER 2,331,732

GRANULAR MATERIAL LOADER FOR A PNEUMATIC CONVEYOR Filed April 5, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 .\\\\\\\\\\\\\x\\\ I III/IIIIIIII/IIIIl/I A ril 22, 1958 D. A. RIESER GRANULAR MATERIAL LOADER FOR A PNEUMATIC CONVEYOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 5, 1957 GRANULAR MATERIAL LOADER FOR A PNEUMATIC IONVEYOR Douglas A. Rieser, Aurora, 113., assignor to T. W. Snow Construction Company, a corporation of illinois Application April 5, 1957, Serial No. 651,028

6 Claims. (Cl. 302-53) This invention relates to a granular material loader for a pneumatic conveyor and more generally to a conveyor operating with a jetting principle.

There are many industrial applications of pneumatic conveyors for granular materials, such as sand, grain, cinders and others of similar nature. Railroads use a considerable quantity of specially dried sand in locomotive sand boxes to aid traction on the rails. This sand is generally shipped by box-car and must be unloaded at the servicing yards. Various devices and means have been tried for unloading this sand but none have been efiicient and most have required considerable investment in equipment. The present invention provides a portable loader which could be handled easily by a single workman and will efiiciently load sand or other granular material into a pneumatic conveyor at a relatively rapid rate. The loader has no moving parts and is subject to very little wear or deterioration over long periods of use.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a new and improved loader of the character described.

Another object is to provide a portable lightweight loader for a pneumatic conveyor system which is a simple construction requiring no moving parts.

A further object is to provide a loader of the character described operating upon a jetting principal with particular construction increasing its efiiciency.

Other objects, features and advantags of the invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the loader of this invention,

Figure 2 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view through a jet housing of the device shown in Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a sectional view through the device taken substantially along line 3-3 in Figure 2,

Figure 4 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view through a portion of the jet housing taken substantially along line 4-4 in Figure 3,

Figure 5 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view through the upper end of the device shown in Figure 1,

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along line 66 in Figure 5,

Figure 7 is a plan view similar to Figure l of a slightly modified form of the loader of this invention,

Figure 8 is a top plan view of the jet housing removed from the loader, and

Figure 9 is a sectional view through the jet housing taken substantially along line 9-9 in Figure 8.

The present invention utilizes air to pick up and carry the sand, grain or similar granular material. its immediate use in the form illustrated in the drawings is for conveying sand to a pipe line which will transport it on an I air stream from place to place as desired. Other substances may be conveyed as more particularly pointed out herein. The loader itself (Figure 1) has a main housing 7 in the form of a standpipe having a collar 8 on its upper Patented Apr. 22, 1958' end in which an aperture plug 9 supports and seals about an air line 10 extending into the standpipe. The air line 10 may have a curved section 11 at the top terminating in a quick coupler 12 for the attachment of an ordinary air hose as may be available in railroad yards. The round portion of the air line may be used for maneuvering the unit in conjunction with a handle 13 welded to the side of the standpipe. Adjacent the upper end of the standpipe is an outlet nozzle 14 for the granular material. This outlet may be equipped with a collar such as 15 or similar means by which a conveying line of the pneumatic conveyor system may be connected to the loader.

The material to be loaded into a conveyor system is drawn into the lower end of the standpipe particularly through a jet housing 16 secured to the lower end of the pipe 7. This housing has within its conical point portion 17 a chamber or air manifold 18 which is connected with the air line 10. The section 19 of the air line extending downwardly through the pipe 7 has a threaded lower end secured to an appropriately tapped opening 20 in a wall 21, forming the upper wall of the air chamber.

The air which enters the manifold 18 is used to convey the granular material into the upstanding pipe 7. A number of laterally extending openings 22 are provided in the housing above the wall 21 and extend into an upper chamber 23. The jet housing is threaded by means of threads 24 on the lower end of the pipe 7 in a position such that the upper chamber 23 is immediately below the lower end of the pipe 7. As will be seen from Figures 3 and 4, four such openings 22 can admit sand into the chamber 23 and opposite each opening is a jet 25 in the form of a drilled passage extending from the lower chamber 18 to the upper chamber through the intermediate wall 21. Any sand which enters through the openings 22 will be jetted upwardly into the pipe 7. A downwardly extending jet 26 extends through the point of the housing generally longitudinally of the standpipe for jetting the loader into a pile of sand. When the jet housing is forced or jetted into a sand pile, the sand will ordinarily flow by gravity into the housing.

The symmetrical arrangement of laterally openings through which the sand may enter the upper chamber and the jets 25 centered inwardly with relation to each opening, will generally provide a considerable carrying of sand into the pipe 7 and through the outlet 14. Efiiciency of the loader can be greatly increased by providing additional jets above the chamber 23 within the pipe 7. In the present instance, four such jets are provided by jet tubes 27 located symmetrically with relation to the standpipe and generally between the openings through which the sand enters the loader. These jet tubes are threaded into the wall 21 so as to be supplied with air from the manifold chamber. Each jet tube extends through the upper chamber 23 and a short distance into the pipe 7. For example, where the pipe 7 is a 3" nominal size, the jet tubes may be about 3 to 3 /2 long with about half their length within the tube 7. It has been found that about twice the sand may be conveyed with the use of the jet tubes in addition to the jets 25.

The air pressures may range from pounds to 105 pounds with very little variation in the amount of sand conveyed. As an example, with pounds of air pressure and 2" nominal conveyor piping, about 3 tons of sand an hour has been conveyed. There is no difiiculty in lifting sand with this equipment 50 feet or more. Other air pressures both above and below the range mentioned will be effective for conveying diiferent materials. Ordinarily, air within the range mentioned is available in railroad yards where dried sand is handled in quantity.

The handling of some granular materials can be quite erosive on the parts of the loader. Grain has been found to be slightly more erosive than sand, although both materials have a blasting efiect. In order to avoid the erosion characteristics of some granular materials, the lower end of the standpipe, the air line portion 29 and the jet tubes may all be rubber lined or covered, as the case may be. In Figures 2 and 5 such rubber coverings 28 and 29 are illustrated. It will be noted in Figure 5 that the liner 28 may stop short of the upper end of the standpipe 7 and the liner 29 need not continue over the entire length of the air line. When the material moves a few feet from the jet housing, it has been found to lose its abrasive character and generally float easily on or in the air stream. Some material will collect against a rubber pad 39 in the upper end of the standpipe and build up sufiiciently so that other material will impinge on the collected material and then pass into the outlet 14. Various changes may be made in the size of the respective parts to accommodate particular materials or particular air pressure conditions.

The form of the loader may be variously changed to suit conditions of use. In Figures 7-9, the form is illustrated in which the standpipe '7 is provided with a slightly difierent physical form of jet housing 36. In some instances, it may be desirable to leave the entire inner area of the pipe housing 7 free to convey the material. In such instances, the air supply conduit may easily be directed to the air manifold chamber from a position exterior of the pipe housing.

Referring particularly to Figures 79, the air conduit 40 is secured to the standpipe 7 by a bracket 46 so that it extends downwardly along the standpipe to connect into the jet housing 36. The housing is formed with a side boss 37 having an upper threaded portion 38 for receiving the air conduit and leading the air and internal passage 39 into the air manifold chamber 42. The jet housing is very similar to the jet housing 16 except for the addition of the side boss for leading the air into the manifold chamber. The upper chamber 42 has two large lateral openings 44 communicating with the interior of the housing. The four jets 45, best seen in Figure 8, are spaced to be opposite the lateral openings 44 to initially carry sand or other material into the pipe housing. in addition, a central jet 45' is formed in a plug member 48 placed in the dividing wall 49. The plug permits a sufficiently large opening to remove the core forming the air chamber when the jet housing is cast. Jet tubes 47 are rubber covered and located symmetrically in a man ner similar to the location of the jet tubes 27, illustrated in Figure 3.

The jet housing of Figure 9 is also provided with a downwardly directed jet 50 equipped with a plug 51 which may be solid or apertured in order to provide a convenient means of adjusting the size of the downwardly facing orifice.

The conveyor loading mechanism of this invention has been used for dry granular material conveyed by air pressure and also for wet materials, such as a slurry. When conveying a slurry with air pressure, it has been found that a slurry can be carried a considerable distance. If the conveying medium or jetting medium is a liquid, such as water, generally higher pressures than are available in the usual city mains are required in order to obtain sufficient lifting. With higher pressures, it has been found that water can be pumped using the conveyor jet structure illustrated.

The present loader may obviously be handled by a single man quite easily and thus used to unload a considerable amount of material in a short length of time. In the devices of Figure 7, the air line 40 provides a convenient handle whereas the support handle 13 is preferred on the device shown in Figure 1. Lower air pressures than mentioned above may be used where desired, the main difference being that the amount of dry material conveyed in a given time may be less. It is important that the jets'all be aligned parallel to each other and parallel to the axis of the standpipe. In this manner, the greatest conveying ability is achieved with the least wear on the parts.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearn-ess of understanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom for some modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

l. A granular material loader for a pneumatic conveyor, comprising: an elongated pipe member having a material outlet at one end and an inlet at the other end adapted to be inserted into granular material to be loaded, a jet housing generally conical in shape and secured to the inlet end with an air supply conduit connected to the housing, said housing having laterally extending openings for admitting granular material and a plurality of air jets for discharging air streams past said openings for blowing material into the pipe member, and an air jet member extending past the lateral openings to provide a jet of air within the pipe member to aid in carrying material blown into the inlet of the pipe member, said jet housing having an air jet directed longitudinally away from the pipe member for sinking the loader into a pile of granular material, said jet housing having a lower manifold chamber supplying the air jets and said air supply conduit extends downwardly through the pipe member for connection with said manifold chamber.

2. A granular material loader for a pneumatic conveyor, comprising: an elongated pipe member having a material outlet at one end and an inlet at the other end adapted to be inserted into granular material to be loaded, a jet housing secured to the inlet end with an air supply conduit connected to the housing, said housing having laterally extending openings for admitting granular material and a plurality of air jets for discharging air streams past said openings for blowing material into the pipe member, and an air jet member extending past the lateral openings to provide a jet of air within the pipe member to aid in carrying material blown into the inlet of the pipe member, said jet housing having a lower manifold chamber supplying the air jets and said air supply conduit extends downwardly through the pipe member for connection with said manifold chamber.

3. A material loader as specified in claim 2 wherein a plurality of relatively short jet tubes extend from the manifold chamber longitudinally into the pipe member past the openings admitting the material to the loader to boost the previously picked up material on into the pipe member.

4. A portable pneumatic conveyor loader comprising: an elongated pipe member having a material outlet near its upper end for connection to conveyor piping and a jet housing secured to its lower end, said jet housing having a generally conical lower portion enclosing an air manifold chamber; an air supply conduit extending lengthwise of the pipe member and connecting with said manifold chamber; said jet housing having an upper chamber with a plurality of lateral openings for entry of material into the interior of the housing, a wall between the upper and lower chambers with parallel air jet passages therein connecting the manifold with the upper chamber, said jet passages being arranged opposite the lateral openings to pick up material flowing by gravity through the openings and carry the same into the pipe member; and a plurality of jet tubes extending through the upper chamber and into the pipe member, said tubes being connected with the air manifold to provide air jets within the pipe member aiding in carrying the material to the outlet and into a conveyor system, said jets and jet tubes being symmetrically arranged with respect to the pipe member.

5. A loader as specified in claim 4 wherein the jet housing is provided with a downwardly directed air jet for embedding the loader in a supply of material to be picked up and the pipe member, air supply conduit and manifold chamber and said air supply conduit is conjet tubes are lined with resilient abrasive resistant matenected to said air connection exteriorly of the standpipe. Hal avoldmg emslon thereof References Cited in the file of this patent 6. A loader as specified in claim 4 wherein the jet housing is provided with a lateral air connection to the 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,262,943 Kalbough Nov. 18, 1941 

